What is Ngrok?
Ngrok is multiplatform tunnelling, reverse proxy software that establishes secure tunnels from a public endpoint such as the internet to a locally running network service while capturing all traffic for detailed inspection and replay.
Why Ngrok ?
Before using ngrok, when we needed to expose a localhost application to web (internet) all we were doing is deploying the application in a server running a DMZ or we used to relocate the host to DMZ and configure NATing in the firewall. We also used to make DNS configuration in External DNS where the domain is hosted. In general, DMZ (De-Militarized Zone) is a computer host or small network inserted as a “neutral zone” between a company’s private network and the outside public network. It prevents outside users from getting direct access to a server that has company data. The following are the issues that we were facing before Ngrok deployment:
- Unable to expose localhost application directly to the internet without DMZ & other network configuration
- Unable to demonstrate an application to Client on an urgent basis
- Unable to share websites for the testing purpose
- Develop any services which consume Webhooks (HTTP CallBacks)
- Can’t share a website temporarily that is running only on our developer machine
- Time-Consuming on network and DNS configurations
- Can’t debug or inspect HTTP Traffic in a precise manner
- Can’t run networked services on machines that are firewalled off from the internet
- Unable to expose application behind an http proxy
- Unable to forward non-HTTP and non-local network services
Download : https://ngrok.com
